


If You Like Piña Coladas

by strippedofnaturalcharm



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cruise Ships, Dallas Stars, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 01:17:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8645518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strippedofnaturalcharm/pseuds/strippedofnaturalcharm
Summary: The text message just says 'Don't do anything I wouldn't do' with about ten winking emojis. God, he's fucking insufferable.Jamie shoots back a quick 'Fuck you both' before he turns his phone off and tosses it onto the bed behind him and then he looks around his home for the next seven days, letting out a heavy sigh. Never in a million years would he have thought he'd ever be in his current position. He's probably going to die of embarrassment sometime this week and then his parents will find out that he actually spent his last minutes on a floating city full of half naked gay men sipping piña coladas in the middle of the ocean. His only solace is that if he does somehow make it out of here alive and get back to Dallas, he is going to straight up murder Jordie and Jason.A cruise ship AU where Jamie is awkward, Tyler is loved by everyone, and lots of piña coladas are consumed





	

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know where this came from.
> 
> Enjoy!

He's going to _kill_  Jordie and Jason.

When his brother first started randomly throwing places like Aruba or Cozumel or the Bahamas into everyday conversation, Jamie should have suspected that something was up. "It'd be cool to go there one day," he'd casually say when the topic somehow morphed into Caribbean destinations from the original discussion on looking at flights to go home to Victoria for the holidays, and then he'd wait for Jamie to agree with him. When Jason started subtly fishing for information about his love life, that should have been another red flag. Jordie and Jason both are there on the daily to witness the absolute shit show that is Jamie's love life. They know what a train wreck he was when he broke up with his last boyfriend and that he hasn't even gone out to pick up since. For Jason to _ask_  is, well...suspicious to say the least. Still, Jamie didn't put the pieces together.

But he woke up around seven this morning and shuffled into the kitchen to pour himself a bowl of cereal only to have Jordie come in and snatch the box from his hands, pushing him away from the counter altogether. "Go shower," he'd commanded, and Jamie is  _not_ scared of his big brother okay, but he went because he figured maybe Jordie just wanted to go out for breakfast. When he emerged from the bathroom however, he found out that definitely wasn't what was going on. His old hockey bag was sitting fully packed on his unmade bed and when he went back down to the living room, Jordie and Jason were cuddling on the sofa in their ridiculous matching flannel pajamas, obviously not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. Jason had grinned widely when Jordie got up and grabbed some stuff off the coffee table, walking over to shove it into Jamie's chest and when Jamie pulled it back to look at it, he saw that it was his passport and a boarding pass for a flight leaving DFW in less than two hours.

" _Miami_?" he asked with a laugh. "Why am I going to Miami?"

"Consider it an early birthday present," Jason had said. "We booked you a cruise."

"I can't go on a fucking cruise, I've got a job ya know."

"We arranged everything already, dumbass," Jordie told him, after rolling his eyes. "Boss man was pretty okay with it. He said you've been a grumpy asshole for the past four months and you _need_  a vacation." Jamie had scowled at that but Jordie ignored him because he had been putting up with it for just as long and he agreed with Mr. Ruff. "It's seven days. Leaves out of Miami and goes to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and St. Martin."

"I'm not going on a cruise by myself like a loser. Besides, the ocean freaks me out."

"It's already paid for, asshole. You're definitely going." Jordie glanced down at his phone before looking back up at him with a smirk. "Uber's here. Now go grab your bag and get out."

"You're not even gonna take me to the airport?"

"Better things to do, little bro."

" _Me_ ," Jason supplied helpfully when the elder Benn flopped back down on the sofa and slung his arm around his shoulders, as if it weren't already obvious what he meant.

Jamie had bitched a little more but eventually went to retrieve the bag from his bedroom and both Jordie and Jason got up to hug him before he left, making sure to remind him that sunscreen is a Canadian's best friend in the Caribbean. Now he's finally here at the port after a half hour ride to DFW, an almost three hour flight to Miami, and another twenty minute ride to the port and he is legitimately going to _kill_  them. He'd starting thinking during the travel that this was actually kind of sweet of them to completely set him up for a vacation so that all he had to do was grab an already packed bag and go and that maybe it _would_ get his mind off of that asshole he wasted the past two years on. But then he arrived at the port and got in line to check in and now he's looking around at all the other passengers who are in line with him and it dawns on him that they're all _men_. No women, no children, just men.

 _Of fucking course_  this is a gay cruise. Leave it to Jordie and (probably moreso) Jason to come up with an idea like this and then _make_  Jamie go along with it, giving him hardly any important information beforehand at all. He walked right into this completely unassuming because he trusted those assholes, a mistake he certainly won't be making again. He has a pretty good idea of what cruises like this are like, or thinks he does anyway. He imagines it's all neon light dance parties and loud music 24/7 and sparkly get-ups and oiled up buff dudes in speedos. _Oh God_ , speedos. If those fucking losers packed a speedo and not his normal swim trunks in his bag, he is literally going to die. He fucking hates them so much.

He eventually gets through the whole check-in process though it takes _forever_  but he finally boards the ship and he has a grand total of an hour and a half to mill about the ship before they're supposed to officially set sail. Most of the other passengers are hanging out on the main level getting drinks at the bar with loud music blasting in the background, some have even changed into their swimsuits already and are heading up to the lido deck to go swimming or tan in the lounge chairs. Jamie should probably do something, any of the things he sees everyone else doing, because, after all, he's stuck on this ship for the next seven days and he might as well just suck it up and start meeting people so he's not a _complete_ lonely loser all week. But of course he doesn't. He walks straight over to the elevators and heads up to the ninth floor to escape to his stateroom. It's small, a little claustrophobic honestly, but he knows if he had a window or a porthole or anything, it would be just as bad because the ocean really does freak him out and if he had to look out tomorrow and see nothing on the horizon but water and more water, it'd give him a panic attack for sure. The pale blue color of the carpet and all the linens is soothing though and he immediately collapses face down into the fluffy white pillows on the bed, groaning loudly in protest when his phone buzzes in his pocket. He has to roll over onto his back to dig the stupid thing out of his jeans and when he sees Jason's name on the screen, he pauses to take a breath and so that he can resist the urge to throw his phone against the wall. The text message just says _'Don't do anything I wouldn't do'_ with about ten winking emojis. God, he's fucking insufferable.

Jamie shoots back a quick _'Fuck you both'_ before he turns his phone off and tosses it onto the bed behind him and then he looks around his home for the next seven days, letting out a heavy sigh. Never in a million years would he have thought he'd ever be in his current position. He's probably going to die of embarrassment sometime this week and then his parents will find out that he actually spent his last minutes on a floating city full of half naked gay men sipping mai tais in the middle of the ocean. His only solace is that if he _does_  somehow make it out of here alive and get back to Dallas, he is going to straight up murder Jordie and Jason.

-

So it's not _exactly_  how he imagined it would be. Sure, over half of the three thousand dudes on the ship do indeed fit into the stereotype but there are a lot who are more like him too. Hell, there's actually pretty much every type of dude one could possibly imagine on board. He's seen drag queens, frat bros, septuagenarians, and everything in between. Everyone is super nice though, even the guy he accidentally slammed into coming out of the elevator and sent sprawling out on the floor _with_  mojito in hand. Believe it or not, he actually made a few acquaintances on the ship's first day at sea. Now that he's mostly gotten over being so uncomfortable, he can actually hold a conversation with people when they try to talk to him. There's fellow Canadian Sid and his Russian boyfriend Geno, Swedish Nicklas and _his_  Russian boyfriend Alex, and then French Antoine and his _"little Swedish kitten"_ Mattias (Antoine's own actual words, seriously).

Most of them are pretty tame, just like Jamie, so he fits in well. Sid and Nicklas had seemed equally as uncomfortable as he was when he first met them and they both confessed that their boyfriends had had to talk them into the idea. The two Russians are pretty wild, though Geno is less so than Alex. Alex is just straight up crazy and Jamie is thoroughly entertained while simultaneously horrified by the way he throws back entire glasses of premium vodka then goes out into the throngs of men to dance like a madman until he's sweaty and short of breath. Nicklas just watches him with an expression that's something like fond exasperation so Jamie assumes this is not unusual behavior. Nicklas is a saint apparently.

Jamie actually tags along with Antoine and Mattias on the first port day in San Jaun. He feels kind of awkward being a third wheel to two virtual strangers who both have accents so that he has to actually concentrate to understand what they're saying but Mattias doesn't really talk all that much so he mostly just has to focus on Antoine. Antoine has been here before so, to pass the time as they walk, he tells them both about his last vacation here, points out little things Jamie never would have noticed, and leads them out of the port gates, into the city where he takes them to a secluded beach that he says most tourists don't know about. The three of them spend the rest of the morning lounging on the beach and Jamie even gets roped into taking a couple of photos of the couple because they obviously want to document their vacation. He doesn't really mind though, even sneaks a few candids of them doing cute things. The one he takes of them laughing at his _godawful_  cheesy joke might be his favorite, or at least a close second to the last one he managed to snap while they were otherwise engaged. Antoine was sitting in the sand, leaned back on his hands with his legs stretched out in front of him, and he was looking out at the crystal blue waters with a little smile on his face while Mattias sat next to him, one hand resting on Antoine's stomach as he leaned in to his side, resting his head on Antoine's shoulder and whispering something into his ear. Jamie couldn't resist snapping a photo of it because he thinks they're an adorable couple and he wishes he could have with someone what they have.

They finally get up to take a dip in the ocean when the sun gets unbearably hot (it's only like noon, Puerto Rico, fucking _come **on**_ ) and Mattias wins the race down the beach but automatically forfeits when he ends up face planting into the water. Antoine and Jamie are both too busy losing their shit laughing to help him but, when he resurfaces, he just pushes his wet hair off his face and grins sheepishly. They spend a solid hour and a half in the ocean splashing around and floating on their backs and dunking their heads underwater to check out all the fish swimming around their ankles before they finally stumble back up the sand to their towels. They stretch out in the sun to dry out a little and it's _so **hot**_  but Jamie almost falls asleep anyway. Antoine accidentally kicks him as he's getting up and Jamie's whole body jerks, his eyes blinking against the brightness of the sun as he sits up and looks around. Antoine pulls his tee shirt back on and then throws Mattias his so Jamie does the same and yanks his shirt over his head too. His skin is still a little damp but it's also tender like he might have got a sunburn so he's definitely ready to go now anyway. They all get up, dusting the sand off of their legs and shaking as much of it out of their towels as they can.

"Come along, kitten," Antoine says, gently tugging Mattias's hand. "You've been in the sun long enough. Let's go find something to eat."

Mattias goes easily, letting Antoine lead him down the little path from the beach up to the main sidewalk that heads back to port, and Jamie just follows along behind them, towel draped over his shoulder, because he's actually fucking starving now that someone mentioned food. Antoine picks the restaurant, insisting it has the best food he's ever put in his mouth, and Jamie's just thankful to be out of the sun and have something to drink other than the sea water he accidentally inhaled when Antoine jumped on his back and pushed him underwater back at the beach. The waiter mentions free wifi and Jamie immediately pulls his phone out to connect to it because it's been almost 48 hours since he spoke to anyone back home or scrolled through his instagram feed or done _anything_  online but then he thinks about it for a second and puts his phone back in his pocket. Mattias is taking his first sip of his first margarita _ever_  and Antoine is watching him adoringly and Jamie is perfectly fine with just being right here.

-

Pretty much no one is eating dinner in the ship's fancy dining room because they're all partying up on the lido deck and there's a pizza place up there that's much quicker and, honestly, more satisfying to a bunch of drunk, dancing dudes than the huge steak Jamie's eating. He doesn't mind eating alone; in fact, he does it often, even at home, because Jordie always has Jason around and he gets sick of being their third wheel _all the time_. Besides, he's just eating anyway. He's going to meet up with some of the guys after.

The lido deck is _insane_. There are people fucking everywhere-- in the pool, in the lounge chairs, by the bar. Jamie thinks every passenger on board might be right here in this one spot. He can barely wade through the bodies to get to the steps so that he can go up to the top of the deck where he's supposed to meet Antoine and Mattias. They're not there yet, but it's still ten minutes until they said they'd meet so he goes to grab a couple of lounge chairs that look to be vacated for the moment and just watches some of the action going on below. The music is impossibly loud and the shouts and laughs coming from the crowd are louder still. Everyone seems to be dancing and Jamie blushes a little at some of the moves being pulled _right there_  in front of God and everybody. There's one couple that are practically fucking right there by the DJ's booth. He's so busy watching them in disbelief and, frankly, horror that he doesn't notice the man who comes up behind him. He can't hear him either, thanks to the Madonna blasting out of the speakers, but the sudden tap on his shoulder makes him yelp in surprise.

The tall, muscular brunette is laughing when Jamie turns his head but then it cuts off immediately with a choked off sound when he looks up at him. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. But you're in my seat."

Jamie's already a little annoyed that this guy scared the shit out of him and then laughed about it but him throwing around claims to lounge chairs is just a little much. "It was empty when I got here."

"Because I was at the bar," he says, holding up the daquiri in his hand as proof.

"If you moved, then it's not your seat anymore."

A pale redhead joins them then, appearing at the first man's side with his own daquiri. "He's in your seat," he says to the brunette, looking at Jamie.

Jamie just rolls his eyes and reiterates his argument to the new member of the conversation. "He got up. It's not his anymore."

"But we were here first," the redhead counters, looking to his friend for reassurance, and the brunette nods his head at him before they both look back at Jamie like that's a completely irrefutable argument.

"There he is!" a familiar voice calls, and all three of them look up as Mattias comes up the last few steps with Antoine following right behind him. "Sorry we're late, Jamie.  _This one_  wouldn't get out of bed."

Antoine looks pretty proud of himself despite Mattias saying it disapprovingly and he wraps his arm around his boyfriend's waist, pulling him into his side. "I'm sure he doesn't blame me, kitten," he laughs easily. "Do you, Jamie?"

Jamie shakes his head, more than a little amused at the grin on Antoine's face. "If I was here with someone, I probably wouldn't be getting out of bed much either."

"You're not here with anyone?" the brunette still standing next to his chair says, inviting himself into their conversation. "You should hang out with us then!"

Jamie's about to ask him why he'd ditch his current friend couple just to hang out with a new friend couple when a third man joins the other two, coming to a stop next to the redhead and looking at Jamie with furrowed brows. "Is Dilly's chair," he says in a thick Russian accent and Jamie is going to start throwing some damn punches if one more person says something about the fucking chair.

"It's okay, Val," the redhead tells him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "This is Jamie. He's gonna hang out with us."

"I am?" Jamie asks because when did he fucking agree to that? These guys get on his nerves. He's not about to ditch Antoine and Mattias for them.

"Yeah, man, you should! We've got five more guys with us, they're somewhere around here. We're a pretty good time if I do say so myself. You guys can hang too," the brunette adds to the couple on Jamie's other side.

"Okay," Antoine, shrugs, agreeing easily, and what the fuck, he just _betrayed_  Jamie. That is not cool. He and Mattias sit down together in the chair next to Jamie and the other guys move to occupy the chairs next to that. The original guy though-- motherfucker plops himself right down at the end of Jamie's chair and just grins at him like the total asshole he is. Jamie huffs in annoyance, maybe kicks him a little when he shifts around to get more comfortable, and has no idea that the dude is totally flirting with him.

They finally introduce themselves. Brenden is the asshole with the weird attachment to the chair. Cody is the redhead. Val is the young Russian. The rest of their group comes up to join after a little while longer and Jamie learns their names too (Alex, Patrick, Colton, Shawn, and Kevin). They do get less annoying the more Jamie drinks and by the time Brenden's handing him his sixth piña colada, he's pretty sure he even _likes_  them. They're fucking making plans to go to the beach when they get into port at St. Thomas tomorrow. The music cuts for the first time since he got back onto the ship this afternoon and Jamie half wonders if he's finally gone deaf but then someone starts talking into the microphone and he recognizes that voice.

It's the same one he's been hearing since he boarded the ship the very first day. It's the voice that crackled through the speaker above his bed and woke him up this morning talking about how nice the weather in San Juan was. It's the cruise director, the "voice from above," as everyone likes to say. He calls himself Segs and so does everyone else. According to the boys around him, Segs is a fucking good time and they know from experience because they'd gone to the white party last night and Jamie hadn't. He actually hasn't even seen Segs once yet, only heard his voice through the speakers and now through the microphone. It takes Jamie a moment to realize, oh yeah, he's actually physically here this time, not just an incorporeal voice, and Jamie can finally see him.

He is definitely not prepared.

Segs is fucking _gorgeous_. He's younger than Jamie thought he'd be, but he's so **_so_** fine with his tattoo sleeves and his muscles for days. Jamie has never seen abs so perfect and he's got a huge grin on his stubbly face as he holds the microphone up to his mouth but Jamie honestly doesn't even understand a word he says because _that **mouth**_ is all he can focus on and then his brain is short circuiting. Is Segs even still talking anymore? No, he's not, he's just laughing now and, wow okay, that is the best sound Jamie's ever heard in his life.

"Dude," Brenden says, elbowing him. "You're drooling." Jamie tears his eyes away from Segs to glare at him but then he casually checks his mouth anyway because there's a very good possibility that he is indeed drooling. Brenden catches him do it and he bursts out laughing, not even stopping when Jamie punches him in the arm as hard as he can.

-

It's 3am and Jamie is lonely. He'd parted ways with all the boys around 2 and gone up to his room to get some sleep in preparation for their busy day ahead in St. Thomas but the moment he flopped down onto his bed, he decided he didn't want to be alone. He didn't _have_  to be, Brenden made that much very clear to him, and Jamie might have even taken him up on it if he didn't catch the look on Cody's face. Even drunk, Jamie knows he doesn't want to get into the middle of whatever's brewing there. So, alone it is. _Now's a prime time to go work out_  is what his mind comes up with so he gets back up and only stumbles a little as he pulls on some basketball shorts and a tee shirt and then he heads down to the gym, definitely **not**  getting lost at all along the way. It's empty obviously so he has his pick of the machines and he decides on the treadmill because that's a good warm-up and he's still drunk but probably he's coordinated enough to walk without hurting himself. At least there's no one around if by some chance he does.

He's a little less drunk by the time he gets off the treadmill after working up to a run, maybe because he's sweating the alcohol out or because he had to concentrate so hard on moving his limbs correctly. His head feels clearer, lighter when he moves on to the bike and he strips off his tee shirt, wiping the sweat out of his eyes before draping it over the rail and hopping on. The door clicks open so quietly that he almost doesn't hear it and he wonders who the hell else would be coming down here to work out at this hour but then he looks over his shoulder and his foot slips off the pedal, causing him to very nearly make a fool of himself. Segs was up before he was this morning and then he'd still been partying his ass off up on the lido deck when Jamie left but he's somehow still alive enough to be able to come down to the gym. What the fuck? Does he _ever_  sleep?

"Not very much," Segs chuckles, looking directly at him and, _oh shit_ , Jamie actually said that out loud. He looks away awkwardly and pushes a hand through his sweaty hair, suddenly very conscious of the fact that he's sitting here shirtless in the presence of someone who looks like a fucking Adonis without _his_  shirt on. "I'm Tyler," he says, and when Jamie looks up, he's standing right in front of him, holding out a hand.

Jamie wipes his hand on his shorts before he reaches out to shake the hand being offered him. "Jamie."

"Nice to meet you, Jamie," _Tyler_  says, climbing onto the bike right next to him. "How's your cruise going? Are you having a good time?"

"Oh, yeah, it's been-....uh, good. Yeah, it's-....so far, yeah."

"First time?" he asks with a little smirk and Jamie turns red from the tips of his ears down to his belly button but he nods weakly and looks away from Tyler's eyes. "Well then, I'm honored to be the one to pop your gay cruise cherry."

Fuck, he's turning even redder. How is that even possible? He should probably just go and pretend this never happened because he's just embarrassing himself. "Aww don't be like that," Tyler laughs, and _Goddammit_ , he has **got**  to stop saying out loud every thought that crosses his mind. This is all Brenden's fault for supplying him with a constant stream of piña coladas. He is way too fucking drunk for this.

"I'm way too fucking drunk for this," he says, and he actually means to say that out loud so he might be getting better already.

"If that's true, then I should talk to you again when you're sober." It kind of sounds like Tyler's dismissing him so maybe that's his cue to go. He climbs off his bike and pulls his tee shirt back on over his head, immediately feeling a little bit of relief that he's no longer half naked in the presence of an actual god. "Leaving already?"

Jamie watches in confusion as Tyler climbs off his bike too, walking over to where he dropped his backpack when he came in and crouching down to dig something out of it. "Yeah, I, uh....busy day tomorrow."

Tyler comes back up with a pen and he makes his way back over to Jamie, smirking a little at the way Jamie reacts when he gets right up in his face. "There's this hotel in port tomorrow called the Palms Royale that has a really great bar. Meet me there?" Jamie can't believe this is actually happening so he just nods wordlessly and lets Tyler grab his arm. He watches him wipe the sweat off with his own tee shirt before writing something down on his skin and when he's done, he lets go of him and grins. "Alright then. Good."

He walks back around to his bike and strips off his shirt before climbing on, Jamie just standing there watching because holy shit, he can't believe this dude just asked to meet him for drinks at some hotel. He is _stupid_  hot.

"Thank you," Tyler laughs and then Jamie realizes he said another thought out loud. Fuck, he needs to get out of here. "See you tomorrow," Tyler calls after him, amused, as Jamie quickly ducks out the door.

-

Not going to bed until 4am and then having a hangover equals loud banging on the door at 10:15am. Jamie startles awake at the noise, letting out a loud groan as he reaches over to turn on the lamp next to the bed and he winces at the sudden brightness in the room as he hauls himself out of bed to go and answer the door. There's ten faces staring back at him when he swings it open and every single one piles into the room after he gets pushed back into it. This room is barely big enough for him so with ten more bodies, it's a fucking nightmare.

"Dude, you were supposed to meet us downstairs fifteen minutes ago," Brenden says, taking in Jamie's appearance. His hair is matted down from the way he slept on it and his eyes are still squinty and he's still just in his boxers. Obviously he just woke up and they are not impressed.

"Sorry," he croaks. His mouth feels super gross. "I overslept."

"You left lido last night before we did," Antoine points out. "And you still couldn't get up on time?"

Val is smirking a little when Jamie looks at him and he's not sure why. "Look," he says, pointing at him and all the other guys turn their heads too. "Oh my God, you _sneak_!" Mattias gasps, grabbing his arm and reading the blue ink scribbled down it. "You didn't come back up here to go to sleep! You met someone!"

"I did not," Jamie protests, jerking his arm back and pressing it close to his side but ten guys against just him is no contest and they pry it back out from his body so they can get a better look at it.

" _Tyler, Palms Royale Hotel, 2PM_ ," Brenden reads aloud before looking back up at him with a smirk. "Who's Tyler?"

"No one. Now get out of my room so I can get ready and we can go."

They finally file out after instructing him to meet them downstairs and Jamie takes a quick shower to wash off last night's workout and the ink that he's going to inevitably be teased about all fucking day, and probably for the rest of the trip. He pulls on a tee shirt and his swim trunks, pushes a hand through his damp hair, and grabs his beach towel before he finally heads down fifteen minutes later and the assholes all get up from their seats and fucking _applaud_  him as he makes his way over from the elevator.

Antoine and Mattias split off from the group to go off for a little alone time when they all get into port and Jamie goes with the rest of the guys down to the beach. He stretches out in the sun on the sand next to Val with Alex, Patrick, and Colton while the others immediately head for the crystal blue ocean and thank God because he needs a few moments without Brenden's teasing to really think about what's happening later. He honestly thought it was a dream when he first woke up, until Val pointed out the words written on his arm, and he might be freaking out a little bit on the inside now that he knows it actually happened and he actually did make a drunken fool of himself in front of Tyler. Plus, he's actually going to meet him for drinks later too, if he doesn't chicken out, that is. At least the boys don't know that Tyler is Segs because he would never fucking hear the end of it.

Colton eventually ropes him and the other boys into a game of touch football and Jamie has no idea where they actually got a football but he just shrugs and goes along with it. He's on the team opposite Brenden, which means he's a prime target for more chirping, but Jamie just lets it roll off his back, even smirks a little, challenging him. Cody doesn't like it one bit and when Jamie gets tossed the ball from Kevin, Cody tackles him hard into the sand. Brenden shouts _WHAT THE FUCK_  at him from the other side because this is only supposed to be touch football but Cody just shakes his head at all of them and storms off down the beach with a huff. "Does he seriously not know?" Jamie asks the others in the vicinity but they all just kind of shake their heads and watch as the redhead moves further away from the group.

It's a little awkward after that so when Val and Kevin decide to finally go into the water, Jamie follows right behind them, leaving his shirt and towel with the rest of the guys on the beach. It's even hotter today than it was yesterday and Jamie really needs to start remembering the fucking sunscreen because his shoulders are only getting worse and he's not going to even be able to go into the sun at all tomorrow in St. Martin. He already feels a little burn on his cheeks and across his nose where his sunglasses are resting and he knows he's probably just going to end up looking like a tomato by day's end. Tyler will think that's _so_  attractive.

He doesn't stay out as long as he did yesterday with Antoine and Mattias, instead opting to go back up on the beach and sit in the shade of the palm trees while he lets himself air dry for a little while. Cody comes back to join the group, but he says nothing and the others don't mention it either, instead just ignoring the giant elephant in the room (on the beach, whatever). They talk about lunch instead and Jamie's stomach rumbles at the thought of food. They've decided it's best to eat lunch now and then go do their original plan of ziplining and, _oh_ , he forgot he was supposed to go do that with them and now he has to bail. He feels guilty about it the whole time they're eating lunch at a little restaurant right off the beach but he's obviously overthinking because when they're getting ready to pay their checks, Val asks, "Where is place you meet this guy?" and Jamie doesn't even really have an answer.

"Um," he starts, looking around for a moment before shrugging. "I don't know. Figured I'd just walk around til I find it."

"Nice plan, dude," Brenden snorts, slapping him on the back.

"Well good luck with the mystery man," Kevin tells him and then he's tugging on the sleeve of Cody's tee shirt to pull him along with him as he starts heading in the other direction. Cody seems reluctant to go since Brenden is still standing right next to Jamie but then the other guys start following and they push him along down the sidewalk until Brenden and Jamie are alone.

"Yeah, good luck," Brenden says and Jamie feels like he doesn't really mean it but he already decided he didn't want to get involved in any kind of drama with him so he just shakes his head.

"Talk to Cody. And don't be an asshole about it," is what comes out of his mouth and then he turns to head in the opposite direction, leaving Brenden standing there on the sidewalk, alone and confused.

It's nearly impossible to find the stupid fucking Palms Royale but eventually, after making his way around the entire fucking port, he finally sees the sign and realizes that he walked right past it three or four times. Feeling like an idiot, he pushes the gate open and walks up the shaded path to the main doors, and when he steps inside, the air conditioning hits him and he instantly feels about a million degrees cooler. The lobby is super nice, probably way nicer than is conducive to his beach attire, with its white marble floors and pale turquoise furnishings and the glass chandelier over his head. The bar Tyler mentioned is off to the right so he goes right in, looking around for the man in question. He doesn't seem to be there yet though so Jamie takes a seat and orders himself a piña colada while he waits.

He's halfway through his second one, feeling pretty dumb and embarrassed about being stood up, when a warm, solid body brushes against his elbow and takes a seat on the stool next to him with a heavy sigh. "I'll have what he's having," Tyler tells the bartender before his eyes land on Jamie. "I'm so sorry I'm late. I got held up on the ship, couldn't escape on time."

Jamie shrugs like it's not a big deal even though he was admittedly disappointed when he decided Tyler probably wasn't coming. "I just figured you changed your mind."

"No way," Tyler chuckles and Jamie ducks his head down to sip from his drink and maybe hide the blush creeping up his cheeks. The bartender sets Tyler's piña colada in front of him and he sucks down about half of it before he puts it back down to take a breath, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the bar and turning his head to look at Jamie full on. "So how's your day so far? You been in port?"

"Fine, yeah. Just hung out with the guys at the beach and got some lunch."

"Oh, you're with friends? I didn't mean to-"

"I'm not with friends," Jamie interrupts before Tyler apologizes because he doesn't want him to think about how he shouldn't have invited him here. "Just met a big group of guys last night and they invited me to tag along with them since I'm traveling alone." Even as he says it, he cringes at how amazingly _lame_  he's making himself sound to the extremely attractive man sitting next to him, but Tyler doesn't seemed fazed by it at all. Instead, he's actually smiling as he twirls the bright yellow straw in his drink. "I guess you just racked up last night then."

Jamie's whole face feels red and he's not sure if it's from the sunburn or his bashfulness at Tyler's implication but he'd wager it's a mix of both. He takes another sip of his drink and clears his throat. "So, cruise director, eh? What's that like?"

Luckily, his beyond pathetic attempt at conversation is received well and Tyler immediately takes that prompt and runs with it, talking about what exactly his job entails and what he does with every moment of his day. Jamie's assumption that he never sleeps is pretty accurate because Tyler is one of the first people awake in the mornings and one of the last to go to sleep at night. He's always involved in all the parties on board, whether they're in the nightclub or on the lido deck, and there's at least one every night. During the day, he's usually meeting passengers and making appearances at all the day events and hosting hairy chest contests and drinking games up by the pool. He doesn't often gets the opportunity to even get off the ship, which makes today incredibly special. Jamie blushes all over again when he realizes that this rare day off is a day that Tyler is choosing to spend with _him_  of all people. He makes all the appropriate noises and cracks a smile at a really dumb joke but then he freezes when Tyler asks him about himself. Talking about himself is not something Jamie generally enjoys doing. Even at home with Jordie and Jason, he's mostly content to just sit back and listen to whatever's going on in their lives. He never volunteers information and, even when they ask, it's difficult for him to find something worthwhile to say. So of course sitting in front of this gorgeous stranger who doesn't know a single thing past his first name, it takes him a moment for him to come up with something that isn't embarrassingly lame. He decides the most interesting thing about him is that he's Canadian, living in Dallas with his brother and brother's boyfriend. That's it, that's literally the only thing he can think of to say and he's already expecting a blank look or furrowed brows of confusion or _any_  negative sign from Tyler but instead the younger man's face absolutely lights up and he grins. "So am I! What part are you from?"

Jamie's too surprised not to stutter when he replies, "B-BC. Victoria." It's not like he doesn't know that there are a lot of people from Canada. A shit ton, something like 35 million. But still.

"Aw, I'm from Toronto. But still! Pretty cool. We have that in common at least."

Tyler is a talker, which Jamie could not be more relieved about. It takes some of the pressure off because he only has to listen, maybe ask a question every once in awhile or, if he absolutely _has_  to, answer a question that Tyler asks about him. He doesn't have to talk about himself open-endedly because Tyler doesn't make him. By the time they've both finished two more drinks, Jamie feels like he knows as much about Tyler as he does about Jordie or Jason. He's told Jamie all about his parents and how their divorce had been one of the main reasons for him getting a job where he's away from home for months at the time. He's told him about his younger sisters and how proud of them he is for not following in his footsteps and actually doing well in school. He's told him about his two dogs that are home in Toronto with his mom and how much he misses them. Jamie's talked about himself _a little_  too with Tyler's prompts. He's talked about Dallas, his family back in BC, his brother and Jason whom he shares a house with, and his job which is infinitely more boring than Tyler's. He has a poor little diabetic kitten at home that he really didn't want but Jason guilted him into adopting and Tyler thinks that's the cutest thing ever, which, okay, he can definitely be down with that.

Tyler slurps the last bit of his drink and glances down at the big silver watch on his wrist. "Shit, it's after 5! I have to get back to the ship." Jamie tries not to look too disappointed but it obviously doesn't work because Tyler smirks at him, sliding his hand up Jamie's shoulder and squezing a little. "Actually, you should too. Passengers are supposed to be back on board by 6."

"Right, yeah. I knew that." He didn't know that.

They walk out together and back through the port to the dock and Jamie wonders if Tyler keeps brushing their hands together on purpose but he likes it too much to say anything. They have to go their separate ways once they get back to the ship but Tyler makes sure to mention that he'll be down in the nightclub tonight for the neon party and then he gives Jamie's forearm a light squeeze before winking and heading off toward crew boarding. Jamie's on auto pilot all the way back onto the ship and through the elevator ride and down the hallway, thinking about the past few hours, and when he reaches his room, there's a note taped to the door.

_Neon party tonight and you better be there. Meet us at 9. -the boys_

Jamie yanks the note off the door and continues on in, wondering what he's even supposed to wear because apparently these theme parties are taken very seriously and he definitely doesn't have anything neon. He figures maybe he'll just wear a white tee shirt and with all the lasers and black lights and shit in the nightclub, he'll be alright, but when he goes to dig in his suitcase, he finds a bright ass highlighter yellow sleeveless shirt that no doubt belongs to Jason because of course he would own something that color. It's going to be a snug because Jason is a little smaller than him but it's better than nothing at least. He tosses the shirt onto his bed and goes to take a shower since his skin feels a little gritty and weird from being in the ocean earlier. He takes his time actually trying to style his hair and then he gets dressed in some khaki shorts and the obnoxious shirt, frowning at himself in the mirror when he checks to see just how bad it is. It's definitely not his color but he doesn't really have any other options at this point so he just shrugs and grabs his room key, shoving it in his pocket on his way out the door.

It's only just after six now so Jamie decides to head down to the ship's fancy dining room and have some dinner. He runs into Sid and Geno, one of the couples he met the first day, as he's going inside and they happen to be on their way in as well so Sid invites him to sit with them. He doesn't want to intrude on their couple time but Geno insists that they have the whole cruise together so he reluctantly accepts. Sid is an interesting guy, pretty fun to talk to and Geno is too from what Jamie can tell; he spends most of their meal playfully chirping his boyfriend. After they've finished their steaks and their desserts, they leave the restaurant and go their separate ways, Sid and Geno up to the lido deck to go swimming and Jamie to the lounge on the main floor to catch a comedy show since he still has an hour or two to kill. The comedian is wildly inappropriate of course and really funny so the whole time Jamie is both laughing and ducking his head down to hide the ridiculous blush across his cheeks even though no one can see him because it's mostly dark in the lounge.

The show lets out right before nine, giving him just enough time to get to the nightclub and when he arrives, there are eight guys standing there in a circle waiting for him. Like Jamie, they're all in plain shorts and various shades of neon tees and a few of them even have on backwards caps to complete the frat bro look. Kevin spots him first and shouts at him in greeting, which makes all the others follow suit and Jamie is hounded with pats on the back and lazy punches to the arm and all eight of them demanding to know how his date went. "It wasn't a _date_ ," Jamie protests, but it's hopeless because nobody actually believes that and the next thing they want to know is when they get to meet this mysterious Tyler. Jamie glances at the doors to the nightclub helplessly and shakes his head. "You don't," he says, because he knows they'll just embarrass him, just like Jordie and Jason would do if they were here. Maybe he can sneak away and go find Tyler while they're preoccupied so that they won't get the bright idea of following him. Maybe it'll be too dark in there anyway. He can only hope. They protest that but Jamie interrupts them to ask if they're ever going to go inside so they drop the topic of Tyler for now in favor of making their way into the nightclub.

It _is_ dark like Jamie hoped, but there are enough flashing lights, lasers, and glow sticks everywhere that it doesn't really feel like it. Brenden leads the way through the throngs of bodies packed on the dance floor until they eventually come out on the other side at the tables against the far wall. There's an empty booth, which is surprising given the number of people there, but mostly everyone is up dancing and Jamie and the others are basically just there to hang out and drink. He casually looks around the room to see if he can spot Tyler and Val catches him do it but thankfully he doesn't say anything to make the whole table start teasing again. Cody and Alex leave the table to go over to the bar for the first and second rounds of shots and those go pretty quickly, as do the next few rounds, so by the time Tyler actually reveals himself, Jamie's three sheets to the wind.

He's clutching his drink in one hand and leaning heavily against Kevin, laughing at Val's slurred, broken description of his attempt to zipline when the music volume decreases and that smooth, warm voice he'd listened to all afternoon comes flooding out of the speakers. Jamie's whole body goes rigid and Mattias peers up at him curiously but no one else notices, either too drunk or just too distracted by all the craziness going on around them. Tyler's a good hype man, gets the crowd even more pumped up than they were before, and Jamie supposed that's probably why he makes such an awesome cruise director. He's thoroughly enjoying just watcing Tyler toally in his element and then once the music cuts back in, Tyler hops down from the DJ's booth and Jamie immediately feels the urge to go and find him because he has to see him like _right now_. He lightly shoves Kevin, and by extension, Val and Colton, so that he can get up and they all grumble in protest but stumble out of the booth anyway and once he's steadied himself from standing up so fast, he takes off in the direction he saw Tyler go, ignoring his table yelling over the music asking him where the fuck he's going.

It takes him awhile to actually find Tyler, but that could probably be blamed on the alcohol he's consumed as much as it could be blamed on the fact that there are so many fucking people everywhere and the music is so loud he can't think. It's not even inside the nightclub where he eventually spots him either; he's out in the mostly abandoned hallway chatting with an older couple like he's known them for years. Jamie lingers awkwardly at the end of the hall, at least still having enough manners not to interrupt but Tyler spots him and his whole face lights up as he calls him over. He hesitantly makes his way down, trying really hard not to trip over his own feet, and when he reaches them, Tyler makes the introductions and it turns out he actually has known them for years. The couple practically live on board the ship, traveling for months at the time so Tyler's gotten to know them well. They ask Jamie to take their picture and then they head off to go do old folk things, leaving Jamie and Tyler alone.

Now that he's here with Tyler just inches away, Jamie's wondering if maybe this wasn't his brightest drunken idea but then Tyler's crowding him up against the wall and kissing him and, scratch that, this is the best fucking idea he's ever had. Tyler's not shy in anything else so it's no surprise that he's extremely forward now too and Jamie has never been more okay with being so reserved because he just gets to just enjoy this gorgeous guy all over him. When they eventually separate to catch their breath, Jamie's head thunks back against the cool wall and Tyler takes the opportunity to turn his attention to his exposed throat. At one point, he bites down a little too hard and Jamie yelps, his hand tightening in Tyler's hair and pulling his head back up to look at him. "Let's go somewhere else," he says, and whatever kind of spell Tyler might have been under for those brief few moments completely dissipates all at once and he gets a really serious look on his face.

"I can't," he says, immediately taking a step back so that he's no longer pressing Jamie's back into the wall. "I have to stay for the rest of the party." He's smiling apologetically but Jamie can tell something's off about it. Like maybe that's not really the issue.

"Oh," he mumbles, and then thinks **_oh_**....he doesn't _want_  to and he's trying to come up with an excuse so that he doesn't have to actually say that. But then there's that part of him that's so desperate for it that he just can't help himself blurting out, "What about tomorrow then?"

Tyler looks flat out sympathetic now and Jamie fucking hates himself for asking. "Jamie-....." he starts and Jamie just cuts him off because he doesn't want to hear him say it. "Got it. Enjoy your party."

He turns and walks away, even with Tyler calling after him, and he doesn't even hesitate as he blazes on past the doors to the nightclub where the guys are probably looking for him; instead he heads straight to the elevator and up to his room to lock himself in and just be alone for awhile and he sure as hell doesn't think about Tyler for the rest of the night.

-

There's a note slid under the door when he crawls out of bed in the morning. He knows it's from one of the guys so he leans down to pick it up and unfold it, squinting to read it in the bright artificial light of his stateroom. The writing is sloppy, mostly illegible, but he does catch the time written out at the bottom so, upon checking his phone, he realizes he has fifteen minutes to get down to the main atrium if he wants to head out into the port of St. Martin with the group. He dresses quickly, grabbing his beach towel and room key, and then he heads down to meet everyone.

Antoine and Mattias are standing over by the door next to a massive potted plant talking to Kevin and Mattias notices him immediately, waving in such an obnoxious way that it gets the attention of basically every other person in the lobby until they're all turning in Jamie's direction to find who the wave is meant for. He ducks his head down in embarrassment as he trudges over to them and Antoine claps him soundly on the back. "You got missing last night," he says, his tone amused and a little accusatory. "Went off to find your boy?" Jamie's face feels hot and he's not sure if it's because of the sunburn he definitely has or because the humiliation of Tyler rejecting him last night still feels really fresh. Either way, he finds the will to shrug his shoulders nonchalantly, mumbling out some excuse of not feeling well after drinking so much tequila and they believe him, or at least they don't call the bullshit. Kevin informs him that they're still waiting on the rest of the guys, who are all in various states of waking up, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and making their way downstairs. Brenden and Cody join just a few minutes after that and they look extremely cozy this morning but Jamie wouldn't dare bring it up when the whole situation is probably still pretty delicate. They slide seamlessly into the conversation already happening and Jamie's starting to think maybe after the shit show that was last night, today could actually turn out pretty okay, but then Brenden looks up over Mattias's head and grins.

"Hey, Segs!" he calls, interrupting Mattias talking and Jamie tenses immediately, looking around for the man in question and what direction he may be coming from. He glances over his left shoulder and locks eyes with Tyler walking towards the group and it's almost as if Tyler hesitates for a moment before he makes his way over to them, coming to a stop between Jamie and Antoine. He greets them all and they each greet him back, everyone except Jamie. The rest of the circle stares at him expectantly but Brenden must just decide that, oh yeah, Jamie wasn't at the white party the first night so he didn't get to party with Segs like the rest of them did. "This is our friend Jamie," he says, making the introduction. "Jamie, you know Segs, right?"

Jamie finally looks over at Tyler but finds he can't hold his gaze so he looks away almost immediately. "Yeah, I-....we met."

"Oh," Brenden replies, unable to hide his surprise because everyone else he knows who's met Segs was really excited about it afterward but Jamie looks like he couldn't care less. He actually even has a little bit of a grimace on his face, like the experience was unpleasant. Jamie crosses his arms over his chest, sort of an unconscious defense mechanism, and Mattias is watching him intently with furrowed brows so Jamie looks literally anywhere else before finally training his gaze on the shiny floors in front of him. He can feel Tyler's eyes on him and his skin is prickling just from the proximity of Tyler's body to his and he would love nothing more than for him to just go the fuck away now so he can stop feeling so humiliated.

The rest of the guys show up all at once and Tyler finally starts saying his goodbyes to the group but just before he walks away, he lays a hand on Jamie's shoulder and gently squeezes as he says, "Catch up with you later" to the group; Jamie can't help feeling that was really only meant for him, but then he immediately rejects that because he can't afford to be holding on to that hope. Tyler leaves to go do cruise director things so the rest of them all head down to the lower level of the ship so that they can get off and go into port. No one has anything specific that they want to do today so the plan is to just hang out on the beach again, maybe find something to do around there, but nothing too crazy. Once they've all settled their stuff and stretched out on the sand, Jamie actually does remember to put on some suncreen this time and then Brenden is dragging him, Cody, Val, and Kevin over to the stand down the beach to rent some paddle boarding equipment. Jamie has excellent balance so he picks it up pretty easily but Cody and Val's struggles are just plain sad. They spend almost two hours out on the water before heading back in and then Antoine and Mattias are about to go snorkeling and he wants to do that too.

He stays so busy and distracted all day that he doesn't even think about Tyler once until they board the ship just before the curfew time. They've all gone their separate ways to their rooms to get cleaned up from their long day at the beach and his voice crackles in through the speakers over Jamie's head in the hallway, reminding him of some kind of fancy ass dress up party tonight in the nightclub. Jamie is definitely not going to that. He gets back to his stateroom and immediately sheds his wet clothing to get into the shower and wash off all the sand and sweat and sunscreen in preparation of spending the rest of the evening ordering room service and lounging in bed watching shitty movies on tv. He's just pulled on some basketball shorts and is towel drying his wet hair when there's a knock on his door. He debates whether to answer it or not; if it's any of the guys, they're probably going to drag him into going to that dumb ass party . There's another knock and then the muffled sound of his name through the door and that's....definitely not one of the guys. Now he wants to open the door even less but his curiosity gets the best of him and he pulls it open, ignoring every fiber of his being screaming at him not to.

"What are you doing here?"

Tyler looks _so_  fucking **_good_**  in a suit. It's perfectly tailored, missing a tie, and the top three buttons of his dark grey shirt are unbuttoned, showing off just enough of his chest and the base of his throat that Jamie has to bite down hard on his bottom lip. "I wanted to explain," he says, glancing down the hallway in both directions like he's nervous before looking back at Jamie. "Can I come in?"

He's acting suspicious but Jamie really doesn't have the willpower to say no, so he steps back from the narrow entryway to let Tyler into the room. Tyler glances around again before he finally steps inside and he quickly shuts the door behind him before following further inside where Jamie is now sitting on the edge of the unmade bed, arms crossed over his chest defensively. He's still feeling a little humiliated so he's definitely not going to be the one to initiate this conversation; instead he just stares at the floor between them because he can't even really look Tyler in the eye properly.

"Look, I like you, Jamie," he starts, and then after a snort of derision from Jamie, continues, "Really, I do. I just-...it's kind of against policy. There's a clause in my contract that forbids fraternization with passengers. I know it's my fault because I'm the one who initiated it in the first place, but I just-....last night in the hall, _that **kiss**_ , I knew I wouldn't be able to stop. I didn't _want_  to stop, but...I'm really sorry, I like you _a lot_  but I can't get fired. This job means too much to me. It's kinda all I've got. You....you get that, right?"

Jamie's still pretty embarrassed but less so now that he knows Tyler didn't reject him just because he decided he didn't want him. He sighs and pushes a hand through his damp hair before he gets up to stand in front of Tyler. "Yeah, I get it. Sorry I was a dick, I guess."

Tyler chuckles. "Nah, man, you weren't. I knew I couldn't-...I shouldn't have even asked you out."

"So you admit that's what it was? A date?"

"I've always been a little self destructive," he shrugs, grinning a little.

Jamie makes a short noise of acknowledgment and takes a step closer, unsure of where the sudden burst of confidence comes from but thanking his lucky stars for this one last opportunity to show Tyler how he feels. He holds Tyler with both hands, one resting on each side of his neck, and Tyler stays completely still, his eyes just intently studying Jamie's face. Jamie kisses him then, a deep dizzying kiss that makes Tyler feel like he's floating, before he eventually pulls away, keeping Tyler upright when he sways a little. "Call me if you're ever in Dallas," he mutters quietly before letting Tyler go completely and then he goes back into the tiny bathroom and shuts the door under the guise that he's actually resuming getting ready when in actuality, he needs a moment to breathe and wait for the feeling to come back to his legs. The door to his room thumps closed after a few minutes and when Jamie finally emerges, he's met with nothing but an empty room.

-

The nightclub is somehow classy tonight, a complete turnaround from the neon laser show with bump and grind music going on the night before. Some kind of jazz plays softly in the background and people are actually able to hold conversations without yelling and everyone's dressed up in nice suits, drinking from tumblers of scotch instead of doing vodka shots. He passes Sid and Geno on his way inside and waves to them where they're sitting together at a small booth tucked away in the corner before continuing deeper into the room.

The boys are occupying the same table as last night and they're all dressed up too but Antoine whistles when Jamie approaches them and Mattias just beams up at him and tells him he looks snazzy. Jamie laughs and scoots into the booth next to him, across from Val and Kevin and Cody and Brenden are scrunched up in the middle, looking like it doesn't even bother them at all. A super hot young waiter comes over to take their drink orders and Brenden cracks a joke, causing the whole table to erupt in laughter, and Jamie could get used to having friends like this back home. Not that he's not grateful to have his brother and Jason, but it's nice to have people who actually _want_  to hang out with him, not just hang out with him because they're family. It briefly dawns on him that tomorrow is his last day with these guys before they all go their separate ways again and he gets a little sad about that, but then the lights darken a little and a spotlight shows up toward the front of the room and then there's Tyler standing there looking just as good as he did a few hours ago, with a microphone in one hand and a drink in the other.

The whole room is enthralled listening to him speak but Mattias is more focused on watching Jamie and the pieces are starting to click together the longer he sits there, looking between the man next to him and the man at the front of the room. Once the spotlight goes off and Tyler branches out to start mingling a little, the boys go back to their conversation and Mattias elbows Jamie hard in the side. "Something you want to tell us?" he says quietly, making sure not to draw attention from the rest of the table. Jamie looks over at him wide eyed, like he's been caught in a lie, and shakes his head. "Really?" Mattias continues. "There's not something you might know that we don't? Like maybe Segs's first name? Does it happen to be **_Tyler_**?"

He says 'Tyler' a little too loudly and that grabs the attention of the rest of the table, who all turn on them at once and start throwing questions out. "So what happened with him by the way?" is the one Jamie chooses to answer but it's with little more than a shrug and a muttering of "Nothing" under his breath.

" _Nothing_?" Brenden repeats. "You met the dude at a hotel!"

"A hotel _bar_ ," Jamie corrects, emphasizing the last word, and Brenden shrugs.

"Same difference. Still a hotel. And you didn't even hook up with the guy? C'mon, man."

"It's not like I didn't _want_ -" Jamie starts to protest but then thinks better of it and unfortunately the damage is done anyway.

"What, you mean _he_  didn't want to? No way."

"It's....complicated."

"Complicated," Mattias repeats, obviously amused because he knows something the others don't know. Antoine nudges him, something like _You're going to tell me later_  in his expression and Mattias just grins at his boyfriend before looking back to Jamie. "Maybe you should uncomplicate it."

"It's not that easy," Jamie sighs, trying not to notice how all of them have leaned in to listen to this conversation better. It makes him really nervous that Mattias is going to say something or the guys are somehow going to find out some other way. As far as they know, the kisses didn't even happen, but even still, he doesn't want to risk Tyler getting in trouble and losing his job.

"Dude, how is it possible that out of all the guys on this ship, you pick the one that's gotta be difficult?"

The guys all have a laugh at that but Jamie has been asking himself that very question and come up with no possible reason other than someone somewhere in the sky just likes to watch him suffer. And that suffering is only going to get worse because Tyler's approaching their table, looking gorgeous in his stupid suit with that ~~cute~~  stupid grin on his  ~~handsome~~ stupid face.

"Hey, guys! Having fun?" he asks, casually dropping a hand to Jamie's shoulder and Jamie tries, he _really_  tries, not to tense up but by the look on Mattias's face, he doesn't succeed.

"We're having a _great_ time," Brenden replies with a smirk. "Just razzing Jamie about some dude he's into."

"Oh yeah?" Tyler's eyebrows shoot up and he looks like he's trying not to be so pleased to hear that Jamie's into him, even though that should've been obvious by the kiss they shared earlier in Jamie's room. And maybe he's a masochist but he kind of enjoys the fact that Jamie seems to talk about him to his friends.

"Yeah," Cody says, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You know anyone named Tyler? Maybe we can find him and give him a talkin' to."

"Don't," Jamie warns at the same Tyler gives a nervous chuckle and carefully sidesteps answering the question. "Well, it's a big ship. I'm sure I haven't met _everyone_  on board."

He's squeezing Jamie's shoulder a little, thankfully not enough to be noticeable but it's all Jamie can focus on. His hand is so big and warm and he's _right there_  and Jamie could seriously just lay him out on this table and fuck him right now but there's just the little matter of the room full of people and the fact that Tyler could lose his livelihood if anyone found out he even fucking kissed him. So instead, he'll just settle for that hand on his shoulder that looks casual but actually means a little bit more to both of them.

"Hey, keep an ear out 'cause we wanna meet this guy. Make sure he's good enough for our Jamie here," Antoine says, reaching around Mattias to pat Jamie on the back.

"Oh my God," Jamie mumbles, shaking his head. They're totally embarrassing but at the same time, it's kind of heart warming they way they're acting; in fact, he remembers Jordie and Jason acting very similarly the last time they met a guy he liked.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that," Tyler laughs. "Maybe give the poor guy a heads up."

Jamie doesn't miss the way Tyler's thumb digs into the meat of his shoulder a little bit, not enough to hurt really but enough that he still feels the pressure of it even after he's moved on from their table to continue mingling with the rest of the passengers. When Jamie finally gets enough sense of mind to stop staring at Tyler as he flits around the room, he turns his attention back to his own table and that's when he feels Mattias staring at the side of his face knowingly. "Later," Jamie mumbles and the younger man accepts that wordlessly, leaning back into Antoine's side and taking a sip of his drink.

-

He hopes Mattias will forget. It's a long shot of course but, hey, a guy can dream. He's rather not have to talk about Tyler at all because, as good as it is to know that Tyler  _does_  actually like him back, the bottom line is he still can't have him and that kind of fucking sucks. He ends up just watching Tyler the rest of the night and Mattias doesn't seem too invested in that, doesn't even act like he notices anymore, but that could be moreso the fact that Antoine is keeping a steady stream of alcohol flowing for him than it is him actually not caring.  
  
But Mattias doesn't forget. Then again, how could he? They spend the entirety of their last day up on the lido deck hanging out by the pool with a shirtless Tyler prancing around with all his abs and tattoos everywhere, making Jamie's mouth water. Mattias says nothing in front of the other boys, knowing that Jamie's not gonna open up about anything to that many people, and when they all go to dinner together for the last time, he and Antoine buy the first round for their whole table. It's after that, when they all go their separate ways for the night that Antoine and Mattias follow him to the ninth floor and then corner him in his room. Antoine seems a little confused about the whole thing but Mattias is serious, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans against the wardrobe.  
  
"Spill," he commands.  
  
And so Jamie does, not in a whole lot of detail, just giving them the gist of what happened, because some things are better left between him and Tyler, but by the end of it, the Swede is grinning from ear to ear. "Antoine," he says softly, wrapping both arms around his boyfriend's waist and saying something quietly into his ear, almost a whisper. It's not in English so Jamie wouldn't understand it anyway.  
  
"Of course, kitten," Antoine replies after a few moments, pecking Mattias's check, and Jamie wants to die because they're so cute together and he _fucking wants that dammit_.  
  
"Jamie, you know we were talking to Segs a few days ago about the crew's schedules. He said he does nine months on the ship at a time then three months of break."  
  
"So?" Jamie asks, not understanding what he's getting to here.  
  
" ** _So_** , starting in November, he'll be back on land for three months and you won't be a passenger."  
  
"Oh.... _OH_. But-....I mean, Toronto is so far from Dallas though. It's not like I'd even see-"  
  
"You know what he told us? That he does a lot of traveling during his off months. Maybe even to places like Dallas, yeah?"  
  
Jamie highly doubts Tyler would ever waste his time coming to Dallas but Mattias looks genuinely excited at the prospect of it so he tries to match that at least. "Yeah, maybe so."  
  
-  
  
So Jamie gives Tyler his address. It's a total spur of the moment thing but he's standing there with his suitcase watching Tyler say goodbye to that older couple from the hallway a few nights before and his chest literally aches at the thought of never seeing him again so he impusively grabs a pen from the Guest Services counter and writes down his phone number and address on the back of a receipt he finds in his pocket before making a beeline over to Tyler. He waits his turn, listens to them chat for a few more minutes before they finally walk away and then it's just him and Tyler standing there looking at each other. The wrinkled piece of paper is hanging from his fingers and Tyler is grinning at him like he's the best thing he's ever seen.  
  
"I'm glad I met you, Jamie," he says after a moment and Jamie might just melt into a puddle right there on the floor.  
  
"I'm glad I met you too," Jamie replies, and then he holds out the crumpled receipt. "Like I said, if you're ever in Dallas-...."  
  
Tyler's face lights up like someone gave him the best gift ever and he eagerly takes the paper right out of Jamie's hand, making sure to let the touch linger since they can't really say a proper goodbye out there in front of everyone in the main lobby. Another group comes up to say goodbye so Jamie takes his leave after one more long look at each other and as he's walking away, he looks back just in time to see Tyler carefully sliding the slip of paper into the pocket of his shorts.  
  
He catches up with the rest of the guys outside. Once he's off the ship and gone back through security, he's finally out in the sunshine back on American soil and the guys have congregated off to the side, waiting for their shuttle to take them back to the airport. They all go together then and when it finally comes time for them to say goodbye to go to different terminals for their various flights, Jamie is surprised that he feels so sad about leaving. He walks away with a phone full of new numbers and invites to come stay in California, Ohio, Arizona, even Sweden.  
  
He'll probably never admit it to Jordie and Jason, but he's really glad they made him take the trip.  
  
-  
  
"Jord, could you get that?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Jase?"  
  
Again, no answer. The doorbell rings two more times in quick succession.  
  
"Jesus Christ, I'm kind of trying to cook dinner! Can't you at least get the fucking door?"  
  
Jamie's question is met with nothing but silence so he huffs loudly, making a big show of just how annoyed he is as he puts the steaks he was preparing for the grill back in the fridge and goes to answer the door. It only briefly registers in his brain that Jordie's and Jason's shoes are both missing from the foyer so they must have left without Jamie noticing. He pulls the heavy wooden door open and it's a good thing he wasn't holding anything because he definitely would have dropped it.  
  
"So," Tyler starts with a grin, holding his arms out to display the fact that he's actually standing there on Jamie's doorstep, a small black duffel sitting at his feet. "I'm in Dallas...."  
  
Jamie immediately hauls him in by the front of his tee shirt and kisses him breathless before he pulls back with a grin of his own. "You're in Dallas," he repeats, and he can't stop looking at Tyler's mouth, can't stop running his hands up and down Tyler's sides. "And I'm not your passenger anymore."  
  
"Damn right. Now point me to your bedroom or I'll fuck you right here in the foyer."

 

 


End file.
